Orion
by ThePopTartSpirits
Summary: The gang is in their senior year of highschool. Seto Kaiba's life has turned upside down. Yami and Bakura… working together? The mishaps that occur during the last few months of hell with flourescent lighting. Warnings: yaoi, character death, language
1. Ch 1

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

This story is rated R for yaoi relationships and most likely some yaoi sex later on, so if you don't like it, don't read it. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR WARNING.

A note: Thoughts in italics represent a conversation between a hikari and a yami, or two yamis. Thoughts in italics with dashes (-) represent private thoughts.

Summary: The gang is in their senior year of highschool. Seto Kaiba's life has turned upside down. Yami and Bakura... working together? The mishaps that occur during the last few months of hell with flourescent lighting.

**Ch. 1**

_He's not that different from the rest of us._ Yami remarked in some surprise. Yugi's tri-colored head snapped up. _Huh?_

Yami jerked his head to indicate a trench coat-clad figure stepping lithely from a limousine. The slam of the door made some other watchers cringe, but Yami's expression remained thoughtful. Yugi glanced at his dark half, then joined in the watching of Seto Kaiba as the cobalt-eyed teen stalked towards the main school entrance. Shooting a scathing glance at everyone and no one around him, Kaiba's eyes seemed to widen in shock when they met those of Yami and Yugi. Seemingly unnerved that the two were watching him, Kaiba rolled his shoulders and proceeded inside.

_You were saying?_ Yugi asked, prodding Yami in the shoulder. Yami jumped a little, and flushed. _Saying?_

_You were having naughty Kaiba dreams again, weren't you?_

Yami raised an eyebrow. _That's not quite how I'd put it..._

_Of course not. You haven't even come to grips with your feelings yet._

Yami turned to fully face a completely serious Yugi, speaking aloud. _Since when were you so direct, little light?_

_Since my other half decided to fall in love. With his greatest rival, no less!_

_Perhaps that has something to do with it._ Yami mused.

_Huh?_

_Well, Kaiba and I were close during Battle City. Very close. Even though it was only because of our rivalry, I believe that closeness may__ have had a hand in my... infatuation._

_You admitted you like him! Amazing._

_Shut up._ Yami growled playfully, poking his light in the shoulder. The first bell rang, signaling class would start in a matter of minutes, and both spike- haired boys groaned before standing and heading in. Yugi needed to stop at his locker, and so left Yami to enter the classroom alone. He wove through the teeming masses of students as gracefully as haste would allow, and made it through the door just as the late bell rang.

Class was different this year, without Jonouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto. They'd both been accepted to a prestigious school in America, and while they weren't studying, they were dueling. They hated the school but adored the country, they both said in their various letters home, so they figured the good and bad evened out. Mai and Otogi weren't in high school; both saw the members of the old gang every once in awhile, but no one really wanted to admit they'd lost touch.

Anzu... now she was a different story altogether. She still went to Domino High, but upon learning that Yugi and Yami both had homosexual tendencies, she went straight to the registrar and had all her classes changed. Didn't even try to explain it. The only one who had been the least bit disappointed was Yugi.

The sensei regarded he and his sheepish bow coolly, and Yami made his way to his seat feeling miffed. Yugi dashed in moments later, and the sensei handed him a tardy slip with the same cool indifference. Yugi accepted it with an apologetic flush and sat.

_Don't look now, but he's right behind you._

_Aibou, I saw him when I came in._

_Oh. Well just so ya know, he wasn't glaring daggers at your back today._

_Oh._ Yami answered softly. _Aibou, I don't ca-_

_His eyes are wide and...omigod._

_Aibou? What is it?_ Yami couldn't help the panic rising in his mental tone.

Yugi's voice had filled with distress. The smaller boy couldn't turn around during class but Yugi pictured himself with worried eyes. _Yami, he's crying._

_Crying?_ Yami shot back in disbelief. _Seto Kaiba doesn't cry._

_Well, he could if he was in the back row. Like he is today. And if Sensei 'Bitch' didn't give a damn. Which she doesn't. And if he had something so heavy on his mind that he was staring at your back as though he could burn holes right through it... which he is._

Startled at Yugi's last comment, Yami's gaze shot from the desk in front of him to his hikari's worried eyes. Yugi had turned slightly and Yami could tell the boy was looking right past him. _Yami, he's definitely crying._

_Why?_

Yugi's shoulders slumped a bit as he shot his dark half a rather annoyed look. _The hell if I know!_ Yugi's irate answer took Yami aback, and he shot up and back in his seat, only to crack his back loudly over something hard behind him. His 'ow' was synchronized with a deeper, growling one and Yami turned, rubbing his back, only to gape and flinch. Seto Kaiba, rubbing his sore head, was fixing an angry and extremely cute pouty glare on the former Pharaoh.

Apparently, Kaiba had put his head down moments before Yami had decided to stretch.

Not trusting himself to speak, Yami shrugged apologetically then turned in his seat to face Yugi. Said teen looked like he would burst with held-in laughter.

_It's not that funny._ Yami thought crossly.

_Yes, yes it is._ Yugi's amethyst eyes sparkled.

Yami's eyes were clouded slightly. _Did you see that pout? Adorable. I might just have to frame that memory and hang it over the bed in my soul room..._

_Yami._ Yugi's flat tone jerked Yami out of his pleasant reverie.

_Hn?_

_You're obsessing._

_Am not._ Yami pictured himself with an incredibly large pouting lip that hung to the floor. Yugi doubled over in his desk, trying not to laugh.

_Yes you are! You should have seen what was running through your subconscious! You are so dirty, Yami..._

Yami jerked his head a little in shock. _My subcon... Aibou, what did you see?_

'Innocently' Yugi bit a finger and grinned. _Nothing..._

Behind the dark spirit and unbeknownst to him, Seto Kaiba was softly shedding tears on to the hard desk. He hated himself for it, God knows who could see him, but he felt so helpless... his world was crashing down and he had no one to help him this time...

A small sob escaped him before he could push it down his throat again. Yami heard.

Kaiba, his head in the crook of his elbow, heard the rustle of leather and knew Yami was looking down at him. His fears were confirmed when he heard Yami's rich, slightly accented voice softly inquire, "What is it?"

Kaiba opted for ignoring him as he let that wonderful voice wash over his hunched shoulders like waves on seaside cliffs. He let it toy with his nerves, even knowing it was a weakness. He tried not to let the Pharaoh affect him, but on days like this·he was vulnerable to just about anything.

He'd gone to see Mokuba this morning, before setting off to school. He'd been greeted with the same grim news: no, the young boy hadn't woken. His vital signs were stable only with the help of those boxy contraptions he was hooked to. And he showed no signs of better or worse. He was the same. Just as he had been for about a year.

It was his senior year, but Kaiba disregarded any fantasies of college. He would stay by his brother's side until... he couldn't say it. Until... he had to pull the plug. Or, until the little black haired boy woke. Just thinking about the slate- eyed, thirteen-and-a-half year old tornado caused fresh tears to well. His shoulders stiffened slightly, and Yami noticed.

A slight sigh escaped the Egyptian's lips; he raised a hand and slid it across Kaiba's tense shoulders to try and comfort him. The friendly contact, however, only served to dissolve the rest of Kaiba's control. He sagged, sobbing softly, and Yami hesitantly wrapped blue-clad arms around the cobalt-eyed teen. He didn't ask, nor did he try to probe Kaiba's mind. He simply held the youth in their half embrace, hoping the torrent of tears would stop soon. It would not due for Kaiba to be caught like this.

Yami growled at himself as he rubbed Kaiba's back in small circular motions, trying to relieve some of the tension. Yami glanced down at the distraught teen.

As though responding to the mental question, Kaiba sniffed quietly and looked up. A lone tear still slid slowly down his tanned cheek, and Yami couldn't resist. He reached up a finger- cursing himself because it was trembling- and wiped the tear away. Turning from Kaiba to stare thoughtfully at the ground, Yami put his finger to his lips.

Kaiba was shocked. -_He... he's tasting...-_

Yami turned suddenly back to the cobalt-eyed teen, his gaze so intense that Kaiba gulped and looked away. Yami was suddenly concerned. Seto Kaiba did not flinch. Seto Kaiba did not look away. Hell, Seto Kaiba definitely did not cry!

Raising Kaiba's chin with two fingertips, Yami gazed into those ocean-blue depths and whispered, "Will you be all right?"

The question broke the spell Kaiba had been under, and with an almost audible crack his cold mask snapped back into place. He glared at Yami with now-dry eyes; Yami snatched his hand away as though burnt. He turned away so that Kaiba couldn't, didn't have to, see the hurt in his eyes.

He sat slumped, finding the grained surface of his desk fascinating, until the bell rang. Then he stood, gathered his things, and left.

_Yami..._

_Aibou, I don't want to talk._

And he closed the mental connection. As Yami made his way to his next class, which he ironically shared with both Kaiba and that Tomb Robber, he ran his still-shaking fingers through his hair.

* * *

R&R, please. 


	2. Ch 2

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 2**

Not surprisingly, Seto Kaiba was not in his next class.

What surprised Yami, though, was the lack of comments from Bakura. The silver-haired Tomb Robber seemed content to sit quietly and focus on the sensei, for once. Had Yami not known better, he might have mistaken the youth for Ryou.

_-What's wrong with him? Agh, don't tell me he's gonna cry too. This seems to be the day for weird things.-_

Against his better judgement, however, Yami decided to take the empty seat beside Bakura when the sensei insisted they pair up for the day's classwork. The Tomb Robber looked surprised and slightly suspicious, but Yami held up his hands in a show of innocence and Bakura nodded. Then both set about doing the classwork from a shared book. Neither spoke. Neither needed to.

Kaiba showed up in the middle of class, his hair mussed and his shirt untucked. He frantically searched the room of staring students before his eyes came to rest upon those silently inquisitive ones of Yami. Motioning to the former Pharaoh, Kaiba disappeared into the hall.

Snatching up his backpack and papers, Yami slipped out the back door of the classroom only to find Kaiba in a crouch with his back to the wall. His fingers were threaded through his hair and he looked like someone on the brink of a panic attack.

Setting down his pack, Yami crouched in front of Kaiba, placing both his hands on the youth's shoulders and began to rub out the tension as he had before. This time, however, Kaiba seemed to lean into his touch.

_-Is this happening?-_

Sitting beside Kaiba with his back slightly angled from the wall, Yami drew a trembling Kaiba into his arms and held him. His voice rumbled deep in his throat, making incoherant comforting noises.

_-What in the name of nine hells am I doing?-_

Seto tried not to break down into tears. He hadn't expected Yami to actually come out into the hall, much less try to comfort him again. He'd shot the former Pharaoh down the last time he'd tried it, so why was he so confident in himself this time? At any rate, Seto felt the need to just pour the story out to someone, even if he didn't exactly trust his voice at the moment.

"Yami—…" His voice cracked and trailed off, and in a whisper he swore.

The touch of a calloused finger to his lips silenced him. "Don't talk," Yami whispered softly, gently. "Just breathe. I'm here."

Kaiba drew a deep breath and exhaled it in a sigh. Yami's strong arms tightened, holding him closer, and he relaxed in the embrace. Never mind that they were rivals, that could wait, all he needed was someone to hold him. Someone to make the pain go away. Wait a minute… they were rivals. Then. Now, he wasn't so sure…

And the awkward silence from Yami said that he wasn't sure either.

Kaiba controlled himself with another deep breath and pushed away from Yami, not quite harshly but enough to sent the other teen rocking back. Pushing himself on to his elbows after his slight fall, Yami watched Kaiba silently. His gaze was impassive and his expression, should Kaiba choose to study it, would tell him nothing.

Laying back in the dust of the hallway, he waited for Kaiba to speak.

"Yami…" The voice was stronger this time, but still shaky. "Yami, I…"

"Speak of nothing, Kaiba, for I'm sure it was nothing."

His coldness surprised him, but he couldn't take it back now. Yami saw the change in Kaiba when the words had sunk in. The cobalt-eyed teen became the pillar of rage and strength most everyone knew. Sighing slightly, Yami pushed his back against the floor and sprang to a crouch. Standing he dusted himself off, not noticing Kaiba's small amazement at the gracefully executed move.

"Yami."

"Hnn?"

"Go back to class."

Puzzled, Yami jerked his head towards the youth, only to mentally recoil at the unbridaled hatred lying behind those ocean-blue orbs. Nodding curtly, he took his leave.

Once the door had closed behind the dark spirit, Seto Kaiba's façade vanished. He sank once more to his crouch against the wall, rocking ever so slightly. "Mokuba…" he whispered brokenly. "Mokuba… Mokuba… Mokuba…"

His brother's name became a mantra that he chanted beneath his breath as Yami watched, unnoticed, from the window in the classroom door. The former Pharaoh couldn't hear, but he knew something was wrong by the way the teen simply broke down in the middle of the school hallway. Seto Kaiba, not caring if anyone saw him hurting? That was, to say the least, big.

Yami then realized that comfort could not have been the reason he was called out into the hall. Kaiba had wanted to tell him something, but had been too distraught over it to even speak properly. Yami yearned with all his heart to be able to help the cobalt-eyed youth, but… -_If Kaiba keeps shutting me out-_, Yami growled as he slunk back to his seat, _-I won't be able to help him at all.-_

Letting himself fall into his seat, his ass smacked the hard plastic so hard he lifted it to rub the pain away, and Bakura woke up. Back to his normal self.

_-Mmm, gimme a piece of that!_- The Tomb Robber thought. -_Nah, he's too commanding. I need someone who'll submit every once in awhile, and if I can't have my own hikari… hn. I'll have to look into that.-_

Aloud he said, "What's been keeping you?"

Yami shifted to glare at him. -_So _now_ he's back to normal. Just my fucking luck.-_ "That's my own damn business, Tomb Robber."

A thought struck him and he asked, "Why were you so quiet earlier?"

Bakura smirked. "Ryou and I switched places. He said Marine Bio sounded more appealing than AP Calculus." He let out a harsh laugh. "Needless to say, there are several people in that class who won't be forgetting 'Ryou' anytime soon."

"Ryou takes AP Cal?" Yami was impressed. He'd had to take some math in Ancient Egypt; how well could you run a country if you didn't even know how many people you were ruling? And so forth. But Calculus was beyond him. Hell, it was beyond most everyone he knew. Except, apparently, for Bakura's sweet light.

"Yep. Stuff makes my head spin. But I told him I'd sit through it if I helped him with something." A gleam appeared in his eyes. "Speaking of which, maybe you could help me with that very thing."

"You? Asking for help?" Yami raised an eyebrow. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Bakura stated simply.

"Yeh fucking right!" Yami snarled. "There's always a catch with you, all TombRobbers are like that."

"Fine, so there's a catch, if it'll make you happy," Bakura growled. "Can't I ever do something simply because I want to make my hikari happy?"

"And let people think you've gone soft? Not a snowball's chance in hell, Bakura."

Bakura looked impressed. "Who've you and Yugi been hanging out with? Your vocabulary is definitely improving." Ignoring Yami's faint flush, he leaned conspiratorally closer. "I need to hook Ryou up with someone."

Yami's startled eyes widened. "Eh?"

"What are you, arrogant _and_ deaf? I said I need to play matchmaker. Only I can't do it alone; my expertise is not without its flaws, you know."

_Oh, I know._ "So who's the lucky maiden?"

Bakura smirked. "Maiden? Hn. That's almost funny."

Yami drew back. "Waaaiiitaminute…" _-Shit!-_ "Yugi!"

"Yup," Bakura nodded. "Now mind you it took me ages to get this out of Ryou and I made all sorts of promises not to tell anyone. Those meant shit but the point is if you tell anyone it'll hurt him, and then I'll personally rip you to shreds. 'Kay?"

"Point taken. How long?"

"Coupla months now. It's gotten stronger as Yugi's gotten more in touch with his 'bad boy' side, taken to wearing all that leather, using all that crass vocab, and basically accenting what an already hot little bishounen he is. Hell, if I was Ryou, I'd go for him myself." At Yami's snort, he continued, "Buuut I'm not, so let's not waste time going down that road. Point be, I need to get the two of them close enough to where Yugi'll ask Ryou to prom."

"Prom!" Yami yelped. "Waitjustafuckingsecond—prom is in TWO WEEKS!"

"I know," Bakura smirked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Are you up to the challenge?"

"You never told me what the catch is."

Bakura shrugged. "Let's just say this: if this thing works, I want you to help me pull it off again."

"Deal, on one condition: not anyone I myself have affection for."

Bakura looked confused. "But you're pairing off Yugi."

Yami grinned ferally. "Not to you I'm not."

Bakura's confusion turned into a sharp and calculating glare. "You mean to say you're after someone else?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Yami said with a wave of his hand.

"No, the bridge is too well guarded," Bakura replied, unable to keep a straight face.

"You nearly got us killed on that bridge, baka!" Yami cried, laughing so hard tears began streaming down his face. "I _told_ you they would hold!"

"Oh, the almightly Pharaoh had to be wrong at least once!"

"Why?"

"How would I have any fun otherwise?"

"Isn't that what we're doing now?"

"No! This is just poking fun at you, your royal shortness."

Yami pulled a face. "Baka Tomb Robber."

"Royal monkey."

"Soul stealing ass." 

"Thank you very much."

Yami groaned. "You…"

_-Wait a minute…-_

"What are we doing?" Yami asked Bakura quietly.

"Laughing over your mistakes?"

"We're laughing together?"

"Yeh," Bakura replied incredulously. "Yeh, I guess we are."

Outside in the hall, forgotten by everyone, a cobalt-eyed beauty stood listening to the Pharaoh's laughter and wishing…

* * *

R&R, please. 


	3. Ch 3

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 3**

_I wish I may  
I wish I might  
but my life's still the same  
when I turn out the light_

_My wishes fall  
upon deaf ears  
my loves and hates  
my hopes and fears_

_Yet I await  
my wish fulfilled  
Even though  
my heart is killed_

_Loves come and go  
but that's all right  
For I can wish  
and wish I might_

Yami left his second period class feeling oddly happy. He hadn't forgotten about Kaiba, however, and was slightly worried when the ocean-eyed boy was nowhere in sight.

He re-opened his link to Yugi and winced at the waves of annoyance that came crashing through. _What in the name of all that is holy was so fucking important that you kept me isolated this whole time!_ The smaller boy yelled through their link.

_Yugi!_ Yami said sharply. He couldn't recall the last time Yugi'd said any form of 'fuck'. _I had it closed for a reason. When the time comes I will tell you._

_But not now._ Yugi shot back peevishly.

_No, not now._

_Fuck._

_-Bakura's right. I'm going to have to see where Yugi picked it up. Not from me, I try not to curse in front of him. Hnn...-_

So intent on his own thoughts, Yami didn't see his own hikari standing before him and walked right into him.

Yugi looked vaguely annoyed but didn't speak. He grabbed Yami's elbow and hauled his darker half to their next class, World History. Yami hated World History. Their teacher, Sensei Storch, was reputed to be a lecher and several disgusting stories were circulating(1). Not only that, but according to himself, Bakura, and Marik, the man had absolutely no idea what he was talking about when it came to Ancient Egypt.

The unit they were currently studying was Ancient Egypt.

All the yamis had History together. Since their memories returned (well, almost) they could pretty much prove their points and each others' as well. Marik made it a point nearly every class to sharpen his pencil right as the sensei would begin speaking, it pleased him to no end when Storch got annoyed.

Yami slid into his seat and smacked at Bakura when the Tomb Robber poked at him.

"Not in the mood."

"Hn, when are you ever? Listen, Ryou wants to switch again."

"But, I don't even have a plan!" Yami protested.

"Relax. I told Marik, he'll help too. Just go with the flow."

"'Go with the flow'? What is this, the sixties?" Marik muttered from the seat behind Bakura. Bakura normally sat next to Yami in the three back seats in the right corner. Storch never came back there, the black cabinet behind them was empty, and besides. Storch feared Marik just about as much as the next guy.

"Mwahahaha…" Marik murmured, toying with his pencil.

Yami and Bakura exchanged looks.

_What is he, the Historian of Doom?_

_Do not ask, aibou. _Yami replied with a mental chuckle. _I doubt even he knows._

Yami turned his attention to Sensei Storch, briefly, smirking evilly when he learned they were studying the Gods and Goddesses that week. _-'Bout damn time, too.-_ Then he re-focused on Yugi. /We're gonna kick his ASS! I wish Seto was in this class, he was a High Pri… damn. He has no memory of that./

A sudden thought occurred to him. He turned to ask Bakura if he wanted to trick Storch into betting who could name the most Egyptian deities, and came face to face with Ryou. _-Shit!-_ He'd forgotten the plan.

Touching Marik's arm and earning a warning growl, Yami merged their minds, blocking Yugi in the process. _What's the plan?_

_You're asking me?_

_Didn't Bakura tell you?_

_He said that Ryou was going to give Yugi a note. If you merge with him, maybe you can read it from his mind._

_A note, eh? What kind of note, do you suppose?_

_Dunno. A confession?_

_Nah, too fast for Ryou._ Yami let go of Marik's arm and gently touched Ryou. _I need to ask Bakura something._

But on the pretense of signaling Bakura, Yami delved into Ryou's memories, plucked and copied the memory of the finished note, and archived it in his own memory. _Thanks_, he said to an oblivious Ryou.

Then, with Storch rattling on about the afterlife—_which is not as good as they say; if it's like mine, it's better/_—he closed his eyes and proceeded to read Ryou's archived letter.

Beside him, Marik was softly humming the theme song to 'Spider-man'.

* * *

1 Okay… real World History teacher! And there was a kid in my class who sharpened his pencil every… fucking… time. But not to annoy Storch. The kid was simply a baka. 

R&R, please. And by the way, if you want to make icons of anything in this story, please credit me. (And let me know, cos I might use them.)


	4. Ch 4

**Orion  
**

_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 4**

Guess what? I don't own these guys.

* * *

Yami was slightly disappointed in Ryou's letter. It was not, as he had suspected, a confession, but rather an invitation to a party he would be having that coming weekend.

_-Damn, and I thought—hangon, a party!-_

Smacking Marik's elbow, Yami sent him a hurried thought. _The kid's having a party!_

_Really?_

_Yeah, this is perfect! I won't have to do a Ra-damned thing! Hn, I think Bakura has finally underestimated his hikari. Ryou's smart._

_Of course he is, didn't 'Kura tell you he was taking AP Cal?_

Yami grimaced. _Hai, he did._ Shuddering at the thought of long, complex equations, he broke contact with Marik. He noticed Yugi glaring at him but when he opened the link, all he felt was a devastating cold.

"Yugi…" he growled softly, both mentally and aloud. "Do not toy with me, aibou…"

"Toy with you!" Yugi hissed. "Since when did I toy with you?"

"Since when did you block me out completely?"

"Since when did you start talking with Marik more than you talk with me?"

"Since we started sleeping together."

Both Yami and Yugi turned to a grinning Marik. "You stay the hell out of this!"

Marik shrugged.

"Mssrs. Moto!" Storch's voice came grating upon their ears. Yami winced, his ears were especially sensitive.

"Hai, sensei?" Yugi piped, once more then innocent schoolboy.

_You're not fooling anyone, aibou._

_He sure looks convinced._

_Have you forgotten who he is? Don't let him touch you!_

Yugi grimaced and wrenched his shoulder from the sensei's grasp. Startled, Storch turned to glance at Yami, placing his hand back where it had been.

Yami shot out of his seat, hackles raised. He threw Storch's hand from his hikari's shoulder. "Don't. Fucking. Touch," he growled. Storch simply leered at him. Snarling, Yami lunged at the disgusting man only to be held back by Bakura. "Kura, let me GO!"

"No," the Tomb Robber said simply, practically throwing Yami down in his seat.

"What the fuck's with you?!" Yami retorted, standing again. His face was about an inch from Bakura's.

"Calm down, Yami."

"He's a fucking pervert. I don't want fucking perverts touching Yugi. How the fuck hard is that for you to understand?!" Yami cried, trying to punch Bakura and getting his fist caught by the Tomb Robber's stronger hand.

"Dude, chill it," Marik said. _Not like I'd normally give a shit, but the rest of the class..._

"Once again, stay the hell out of this!" Yami shot at the slightly worried Egyptian, his normally rich tenor voice a deadly whisper.

Worry evaporated. The golden-haired youth shrugged. "Your funeral, Pharaoh."

Yami snarled at him, then turned to Storch. He glared at the man until Storch's knees started to wobble, but then suddenly sighed, "Eh, you're not worth it."

Bakura, Marik, Yugi, and the rest of the class stared at him. Yami shrugged. "I haven't the energy to battle or banish him right now, and either would end up happening if we continued." Turning to Marik, he said, "Maybe next time I send you to the Shadow Realm, you'll have company."

Shoving a pointed finger in Storch's face, Yami seemed to transform. His ruby eyes narrowed and seemed to edge towards a more blackened color. His very body crackled with an unearthly energy and amethyst flames flared around him. Then he spoke. "If you lay so much as a breath upon Yugi again, there will be Osiris to pay."

Then, not even bothering with his school things, the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt stalked down the row and out the classroom door.

Storch, being the first to recover, turned to Bakura and asked shakily, "What's Osiris the god of again?"

"The underworld, you twit," the Tomb Robber spat, and left to find the Pharaoh.

* * *

I changed the Marik lines to something better. R&R, please. 


	5. Ch 5

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 5**

Yami was still flaming with otherwordly energy when he came upon Seto Kaiba in the next hallway over. His eyes had begun to return to normal, but his anger was still apparent to the other youth. Wisely Kaiba decided to remain silent.

The young CEO was standing between Yami and the door, hands in his pockets and eyes red-rimmed from crying. A piece of his normally immaculate hair had fallen across those eyes, and Yami resisted his urge to step forward and tuck it behind Kaiba's ear. As it was the sight of the cobalt-eyed dragon tamer sent Yami's anger back to the shadow realm and out of sight. The flames disappeared and his eyes were a lighter ruby once more.

Sighing, Yami made to push past Kaiba and somehow ended up in his arms.

Then the weight of all that had happened came crashing down on to the youthful Pharaoh. He shuddered and relaxed in Seto's strong hold. _-Yugi probably hates me for losing it like that, even though I was only protecting him… Ryou's party! I never told Bakura. I wonder if he knows. Marik doesn't care… I wonder if Ryou will invite Seto… Seto… oh yeh, I'm standing here in his embrace… in his _embrace_… wait, I—shit!- _

Yami returned to reality just as Seto pushed him away.

"The fuck!" Yami yelped, landing hard on the floor. His back went numb, then started to throb, and he winced. He began to push himself up on his elbows, but Kaiba's foot on his chest forced him back down.

Raising weary eyes to Seto's furious sapphire ones, Yami braced himself for a beating. His energy had been spent earlier with the shadow energy and the flames. He couldn't fight back if he wanted to.

Kaiba blinked at the defeat in Yami's eyes and slowly slid his foot to the floor. He left a dust mark on the other youth's chest, but really didn't care.

"You want to tell me why?" Yami asked quietly.

"I don't know," Kaiba spat. "If I knew, I'd be screaming that reason in your face, rubbing it there along with the dust. But I don't. I don't know. I don't _know_…" he whispered, his soft voice cracking on the second syllable.

With the same fluid grace as before, Yami stood. "What's wrong?"

Kaiba shook his head, causing his brown locks to fly. Yami made a concerned noise in the back of his throat and, against his better judgement, put his arms around Seto's shoulders and drew him close.

_-I don't care if he pushes me away…-_

_-I should push him away…- _Kaiba thought, closing his eyes at the feeling of Yami's arms encircling his torso. -_But I can't… it feels so right, this…-_

Just when he was about to succumb to Yami's touch and relax, his cell phone rang.

The two young men jumped apart.

Angrily Kaiba opened his phone and yelled into the mouthpiece. "What!"

As Yami watched in fascination, Seto's expression went from fury to sorrow, and his breath caught. His shoulders, once rigid in anger, slumped and he leaned heavily against the wall. "No changes," he whispered into the phone, and the cell slipped from his hand to smash on the floor.

Perplexed as he was, Yami resolved that questions wouldn't be appropriate. His arms snaked around Seto's body once more, and he braced himself to be shoved away a third time. That shove never came. Kaiba's arms found their way around Yami's waist. Drawing a long, shuddering breath, the young CEO buried his face in Yami's shoulder and neck.

Yami closed his eyes to feel the cobalt-eyed beauty's warm breath on his neck. Like Yugi, his neck held an intricate pattern of extremely sensitive nerves. His knees threatened to give out.

Kaiba felt the tension in the Egyptian's body and moved his hands over Yami's back, massaging deeply and trying to relieve the tension. Yami stiffened then succumbed to the dragon tamer's ministrations, a moan issuing from his parted lips.

Seto broke the intimate embrace, but still held Yami close, and gazed deep into the former Pharaoh's ruby eyes. Said eyes were slightly lust-clouded and heavy, but they still shone. Seto didn't trust himself to speak. Instead he traced a few fingers up Yami's next to stroke the young man's jawbone. Leaning into the touch, Yami purred, not breaking their gaze.

He couldn't stand it. He just couldn't stand it.

Leaning close, Yami smirked and captured Kaiba's lips with his own.

* * *

R&R, please. 


	6. Ch 6

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

_In the previous chapter…_

…Seto broke the intimate embrace, but still held Yami close, and gazed deep into the former Pharaoh's ruby eyes. Said eyes were slightly lust-clouded and heavy, but they still shone. Seto didn't trust himself to speak. Instead he traced a few fingers up Yami's neck to stroke the young man's jawbone. Leaning into the touch, Yami purred, not breaking their gaze.

He couldn't stand it. He just couldn't stand it.

Leaning close, Yami smirked and captured Kaiba's lips with his own.

**Ch. 6**

"Well, well, well," Bakura drawled. To Yami's dismay, the Tomb Robber was standing right behind him. "What have we here?"

Leaning against the opposite wall, Bakura inspected his fingernails. Yami felt his otherworldly energy come flaring back into view, and flames danced.

Bakura yawned.

Seto Kaiba saw the flames coming off the Pharaoh's tense frame and did something not even he expected: he placed a hand on Yami's shoulder and drew his entire body back. Then, when the Pharaoh was resting in his arms, Kaiba threw out a pale finger.

"You." It wasn't a question. The ice in Kaiba's tone made even the furious Pharaoh shudder slightly. Bakura gulped a little, not feeling as brave as he had been. Seto Kaiba looked ready to murder.

"What do you think you are doing, Bakura?" Yami hissed, trying in vain to slide out of Kaiba's grasp. His flames had long since sputtered and died. He was out of energy, and had a frustrated feeling that Kaiba's arms were the only things keeping him from falling on his ass in exhaustion.

"Looking for you, what do you think? I figured you might kill somebody."

"Since when did you care to spare an innocent life?"

Bakura sighed noisily through his nose. "Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Kaiba coughed. When Yami looked back at him, he jerked his head to the left.

Looking confused, both Kura and Yami glanced to the left only to see the rest of the class standing there, including a rather disappointed-looking Storch. Then, three things happened at once:

Yami and Kaiba sprang apart like they were burning each other.

Bakura leapt forward to catch Yami as he fell.

Ryou and Yugi both started forward to their respective yamis and ended up in a tangled heap.

Silence reigned in that hallway for what seemed like eternities. Kaiba was standing pressed against the wall, staring with an unreadable expression down at Yami and Bakura, who were laying tangled on the floor in a very compromising position. They were staring at each other, their mouths slightly open, eyes wide, and wondering who would be the first to move. Yugi and Ryou were in a similar position not too far away, with Yugi on top. They were both wondering what in the bloody hell was happening to them.

Kaiba was the first to move, stepping over Yami and Bakura, away from the tangled mess of emotions and out of the school. He didn't look back but Yami caught a wave of the ocean-eyed boy's emotions anyway and winced at the flood of hurt, shock, and then complete numbness.

The Pharaoh tried to dislodge himself from the Tomb Robber, and Bakura was trying the same thing, but every move they made seemed to only entangle them further, as well as arouse them. Yami, cursing his treacherous body, wrenched himself away from Bakura and left him confused and scared on the floor.

He went looking for Kaiba, and found him on the front steps to the school, but also saw that the cobalt-eyed teen was on his cell phone and didn't want to interrupt him…

"Kaiba-sama?"

"Yes, what is it?" Kaiba barked into his cell phone. His briefcase in hand, he stood stolidly on the cold front steps of the school. His navy blue trench coat whipped wildly about in the chilled maverick wind, the last remnant of winter. Resisting the urge to pull the coat closer around him, Kaiba glared at the flagpole as though to melt it and hissed, "Well?" when the man failed to reply fast enough.

"Well, sir, your brother—he…"

Kaiba's heart stopped. His eyes fluttering closed, he clutched the phone like a lifeline. The ghostly wind picked up pace, howling around the cobalt-eyed boy like a spirit on wing. Summoning all that was left of his draining strength, Kaiba managed to whisper, "What about him?" before he sank to his knees on the icy pavement.

"He's… he woke up."

Kaiba's eyes snapped open. "What!"

"Briefly, sir. He's dropped back into a coma now. But you said I should inform you of any changes, and—…"

"Yes, well, what else!" Kaiba snapped harshly. Surely, surely he said something, gave some sign of recognition.

"Nothing, sir. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you more…"

Snarling, the ocean-eyed boy smacked the phone closed and whirled around. The wind had picked up; he figured he'd wait inside until it died down…

Yami was standing there, right behind him, and Kaiba hadn't even heard him walk up.

He didn't speak; he didn't have to. His ruby eyes held more words than anyone would have breath to say. But Kaiba didn't understand. At least, not yet.

Hearing the familiar crunch of his limousine's tires, Kaiba spun around and stalked away, but not before he heard Yami whisper,

"I am sorry for your pain, aoi hitomi…"

* * *

Aoi hitomi means blue eyes. R&R, please. 


	7. Ch 7

**Orion**

_by _The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 7**

* * *

The rain refused to cease; instead, it seemed to fall in sync with the throb in Seto Kaiba's chest. He rubbed the offending area wearily, knowing it was simply stress personified. Goddamn those fucking doctors who insisted he had some genetic heart condition. He was fine; the pain in his chest was nowhere near the area of his heart and it no more incapacitated him than did a headache.

But it was the same Mokuba, and the doctors Seto had hired. Those quacks hadn't shown any change for years, and yet Kaiba was sure his brother had to be getting better. Had to be...

The twinge of loneliness that always followed thoughts of the slate-eyed youth had somehow multiplied; Kaiba sucked in a startled breath at the slash of pain. Maybe I should be worrying about my own health as well...

Which brought him full circle to Yami, the only person who really gave a fuck if there was a Seto Kaiba in this world tomorrow, or the next day. _-Even I don't really care about what would happen if I were to drop where I stood...-_

But then he remembered the slim chance of Mokuba's awakening, and sighed. That thought always stilled the blade, always unloaded the pistol, always put the pills back in their cabinet.

He'd gone home after the episode at school. He didn't feel like stalking through whispering halls again, through crowds of fans gone eerily silent like corn stalks waving in the breeze before a storm... Outside, the rain pelted the carefully manicured grounds of his estate.

Like they had always said in those racy tabloids the city insisted be delivered to his door... _"The monolithic structure at the dead end of Ford Road has been called home by generations of Kaibas... but to this particular, icy specimen, it is merely a house."_

_They act like I'm some kind of statue,_ Kaiba thought to himself, settling as best he could in the arms of an overstuffed chair. _Standing there, looking important, with no heart reflecting in my eyes..._

His cell phone rang shrilly, disrupting his thoughts yet again. He thought about throwing the device up against the opposite wall. After all, he thought with a grimace, I had Yami in my arms the last time it rang, and it ruined that...

With all the luck this thing has given me, it might as well give me cancer, too...

"What do you want... " he growled.

"Is this Seto Kaiba?" An unknown male voice queried. Kaiba decided a grunt would suffice. The caller laughed.

"Figured I'd get as much for a welcome. Well, listen. A good thing happened to you today, and you almost blew it. So I'm going to help you. Yami's down in Domino Park right now... it would be in your best interest to join him."

"Got my best interests at heart, do you?" Kaiba snarled.

"Personally," the stranger drawled, "I don't give a flying fuck about your interests. We're both businessmen, and sufficing to say, we protect our assets. Sometimes, that protection is gained by furthering the gain of others."

"..."

"I'm trying to help you, dipshit. Take it or leave it."

Kaiba smacked the phone down, grabbed his trench coat, and instead of ringing the chauffer decided to take his own red Jaguar. It roared out of the garage at about seventy m.p.h.

On the other end of the line, at his house two cities away, Otogi Ryuji slapped palms with a certain Tomb Robber.

"One question, though..." Glancing at Bakura, the cat-like dice king cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you care about anything concerning Yami?"

"He's doing me a favor." Bakura smirked. "I'm making sure he delivers."

"What... kind of a favor?"

"Personal matter, Otogi." Bakura glared at the raven-haired youth unconvincingly. "None of yours."

Otogi rolled his eyes. "And you expect Yami not to ask any questions?"

"Au contraire, mon cherie. He won't ask. He already knows enough."

"Would it be politically correct if I called you a dipshit?"

"No." Bakura plunked down on the sofa. "Kaiba's the dipshit. I'm a clod with style."

"A what?"

"Admit it! I may be a clod, but I'm a clod with style."

"Hey, just remember that you called yourself a clod, not me."

"Who even says 'clod' anymore?" Bakura swiped the remote. "What's on?"

"ADD much?" Otogi's grin threatened to crack his face.

"Hey, I'm not- ooh! Squirrel!" And he was gone.

Facepalming with a loud crack, Otogi slumped into his chair. He could hear the white-haired fiend outside, hurling curses and sticks at the little furry rodents... oh, it was going to be a long day. He only agreed to let Bakura stay at his house so Ryou could actually get some work done, but now, Otogi reasoned, if Ryou wanted favors like this again, he had better be willing to pay.

CRASH!

"Oh, shit..." Otogi muttered, and dashed outside. Bakura found the power tools...

A very long day indeed.

* * *

Yay! Reviews, please. Otogi likes saying dipshit, doesn't he? I don't know where ADD Bakura came from, but he's here now. Squirrels beware. 


	8. Ch 8

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch 8**

Rain. Lots of it.

Seto's Jaguar streaked through the grey of clouds, mist and rain, his forehead nearly pressed to the windshield in order to see past his own hood. Luck was against him.

He was doing fine, he told himself, swerving madly to take a turn he'd forgotten was there. Swear to me you'll get there in one piece! he pleaded with himself.

While his body could make him all sorts of promises... the Jaguar was under no such obligation.

Five minutes later Kaiba was reeling away from a totaled red Jaguar, which had decided to run its nose up under a statue of some Domino hero. You idiot... he thought, and Mokuba flashed into his mind. The images wrenched at his heart but he ended up shoving them away. Clutching his head and desparately glad he wasn't bleeding, Seto checked his watch. Eight-fifteen. Then he realized that he had ended up where he wanted to be; the hero statue marked the entrace to Heritage Park.

Obviously, the caller wasn't from Domino, Seto mused, tightening the collar of his trench coat against the cold as he felt the rain trickle and cease. He called it 'Domino Park'. Only people who live here know the real name... He decided he'd look into that later.

Gradually, the aftermath of the storm faded, and Seto once more loosened the collar of his faithful, navy trench coat. He'd opted against wearing the silver one because it was altogether unwieldy and cumbersome; he'd tripped far too many times during Battle City and that mutt Jonouchi still snickered behind his back about it. _'Pride goeth before a faceplant...'_

He took a turn on to one of Heritage's many bike paths, this one fortunately paved. Kaiba had decided to look at the field first, because the stars were coming out. Ancient Egypt or no Ancient Egypt, Seto still figured Yami for the type of guy who would stargaze.

And he was right.

Tri-colored hair shifting in the night breeze (heaven knows how it managed to dry before the rest of him), the young man appeared to be standing still, staring up at the constellations. On closer inspection Yami was shivering, and Kaiba clucked his tongue.

"That'll never do..."

Yami jumped, whirling around with his hand out like some kung-fu master Kaiba had once seen on late-night. A bit of light seemed to appear on his forehead, but when Kaiba blinked and looked harder, it had gone.

The Pharaoh recognized Kaiba and relaxed- slightly. After what had happened earlier, he was sure he was in for a fierce argument... despite the fact that Kaiba had been kissing him back.

"Hello, Kaiba." Yami managed, his entire body seeming to contort with the force of his shaking.

Kaiba unshouldered the trench coat. "Here , take th- you're soaking wet!" He exclaimed as his hand came into contact with Yami's jacket. Yami bundled into the trench coat, offering a wan smile. "I came here right after school, and when it started raining... I guess I just didn't care, so I stayed."

Seto hid his smile at this, and Yami's gaze once again shifted skyward. His eyes darted about, as though searching desparately, then his face was suddenly awash with a radiance that took Kaiba completely by surprise. Yami's crimson eyes were open wide and filled with extreme joy, and his mouth was slightly open in a grin.

"Found him!"

Kaiba cocked his head to the side in confusion, unknowingly mimicking a certain puppy. "Who?"

Yami turned to face him, none of the radience lost. "Orion!"

"Orion?"

"Yeah..." Yami's gaze returned to the belt of stars and became wistful. "It may sound stupid, but I've always thought of Orion as my protector... I feel safe, and content whenever I can look into the sky and see those stars." He threw a finger heavenward and pointed.

Then he turned back to the billionaire. "Why are you here?" The question wasn't demanding, nor was it rude. Again, Seto fought the urge to grin like an idiot over how kawaii Yami was.

He thought about the phone call, and his feelings for Yami, and reflected with an inward wince on his poor mangled Jaguar... he said, simply, "Because you are here."

Yami seemed to accept that, moving back until he bumped into Kaiba's chest and sort of leaned there. Seto wrapped his arms around the young man.

"It is kinda cold out here... but your coat is warm and smells good."

If I wasn't so sure he was Yami, Seto frowned with a chuckle, I'd think he was Yugi just by the way he's acting...

"Shouldn't we get you home?"

"How?" Yami asked. "You wrecked your car." And suddenly his old cockiness was back, as he turned in Seto's arms to smirk up at him.

"Hey, now, enough of that," Seto said, and pulling Yami closer as he captured the Pharaoh's lips for the second time that day.

_-HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT...mmm..._- Yami closed his eyes and reveled in the warmth of both the kiss and Seto's body... he did indeed smell wonderful, an exotic blend of cinnamon and vanilla. He brought his arms up to wrap them around Kaiba's neck.

Seto had tasted Yami briefly, earlier, and he wanted to taste him again. He remembered a spice... running his tongue along the seam of Yami's lips, he silently requested entrance. Yami granted access, but immediately engaged Seto's tongue in a fierce duel with his own, fighting to dominate the kiss. Their breathing neared a pant. Seto could only laugh at the realization that they kissed each other the way they dueled each other before they needed to part for air. Kaiba could see, even in the dim light, that Yami's face was flushed and his eyes had gotten darker. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours.

"Let me walk you home," Kaiba offered. Yami smiled, almost shyly, and took his pro-offered arm. They walked back through the paths together, Kaiba forgetting about the Jaguar in the fountain until Yami was gaping openly. The CEO ducked his head in shame, and Yami laughed...

Later that night, after he had climbed the stairs to the dwelling above the game shop and peeked in on a sleeping Yugi, Yami realized that he was still wearing Kaiba's trenchcoat. Smiling fondly at the thought of Kaiba and breathing deeply the exotic essence, Yami balled up the coat on his bed and later fell asleep with it in his arms.

* * *

The thing with Orion is my thing, that's actually where the whole damn story came from, was the thing with Orion-the-stars. R&R, please. 


	9. Ch 9

**Orion  
**_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch 9**

And now, dear reader, you are undoubtedly wondering (as are we all), "What in the bloody hell happened to Mokuba?" Well, Seto knows. I hope I picked the right person to be brave and go ask him. Because the result will not be pretty.

* * *

The stillness woke Seto Kaiba. The house seemed like a mausoleum compared to the life it had held when Mokuba was there. The black-haired kid was always up around nine on the weekends and would come bouncing into his big brother's room shouting for joy that it was Saturday or Sunday or spring break or whatever, and that Seto needed to get his big brotherly butt out of bed and come play a game with him. Seto would grumble, and plodge down to the kitchen in a robe, and slam around making coffee... a morning ritual that made Mokuba fall over laughing, because his big brother was acting like he was fifty years old. Then, at the first sip of his coffee- two sugars, no cream- he would transform. He'd be wreathed in smiles, and he'd pick his little brother up, swing him around, and cook him a mess of eggs and waffles. 

Not that anyone else ever saw this performance. Not even the staff. It was all for Mokuba and Mokuba knew it. He loved Seto with all that he had, because not only was Seto his only family, but because whenever they were in a tight spot, Seto looked out for him.

And that was why Seto Kaiba continued to bang his head against the wall, so to speak. He wondered, why didn't I see this coming? Why couldn't I prevent it? He couldn't have known, of course. He was not Isis; he did not have the luxury of forseeing the future at every turn. But because he was Mokuba's only family, and because whenever they were in a tight spot, Seto looked out for him, Seto Kaiba continued to blame himself.

The little slate-eyed tornado woke up dizzy one morning. Of course, they'd been in the holo world all the night before and they both dismissed the dizziness as a side-effect, one Seto seriously began to try and work out of the game after Mokuba's eyes crossed and he fell down the stairs.

The dizziness subsided, but naps took its place. Every afternoon he'd fall asleep, which wasn't healthy for a kid his age. Seto let him, though, convincing himself that it must be the workload in the public middle school.

And Mokuba complained of headaches, too. Seto remembered that now, the headaches that took so much out of him. Seto would always be working, so he'd give his brother some Tylenol and tell him to lie down despite the three-hour nap he'd already had.

Seto Kaiba, looking back, now cursed himself for not realizing something had to be wrong.

He came home from school one day, in a rare chipper mood because he'd successfully pissed off the mutt and also gotten his diagnostic #4 for a new game completed during Algrebra II. Opening the door, he noticed immediately how quiet the house was. It smelled odd, too. He took the stairs at a run, four at a time, and burst into his little brother's room only to find the kid halfway off his bed, face pushed into the shag carpet and barely breathing. After a futile attempt to wake the boy, Seto called an ambulance.

The ride to Domino Grand Central hospital was quiet, and quick. He was worried to the point of vomiting on the side of the road when they arrived. Mokuba wouldn't wake...

"It's a cranial tumor known as Glioblastoma multiforme," one specialist gravely told him. Seto stood beside the contraption they'd hooked his little Mokie to, and numbly tried to process the information. "It grows so quickly that abnormal pressure is placed on the brain, resulting in headaches, drowsiness, slowed thinking and then coma."

Seto's eyes began to water. Headaches, drowsiness, coma... why didn't I notice something was happening? The specialist droned on and on, and finally left, and Seto dropped to his knees beside the chemical-smelling hospital bed, clutching at his brother's hand, willing him to wake.

_Oh, god, Mokuba... I'm sorry..._

"I am such a shitty brother." The memories of that day still made him tear up, and Seto Kaiba hated that. He dashed the sleep out of his eyes and slammed around making coffee. In two weeks, it will have been a year since Mokuba's "incarceration" in the hospital, and four months since he stopped breathing on his own. Seto Kaiba gripped his coffee cup so hard it shook and splattered his bare skin, but he didn't seem to notice.

Then he heard someone knock on the door.

"What the hell..." He stormed out of the kitchen and into the security alcove. "What do you want?" He rasped into a microphone.

Outside, standing on the porch, Yami heard the pain in his voice. "Are you all right?"

Kaiba threw open the door. Yami gaped openly at the sight of the CEO standing there looking like hell on earth, in a ratty bathrobe, worn pajamas, and his hair mussed. The despondency in his eyes made Yami want to gather him up, and kiss him til he smiled...

"No." Kaiba growled. "No, I feel like shit."

"How can I fix that?" Yami took a step closer.

_God, he's beautiful..._ "That's not something you can fix."

"But Seto, I—"

"Get the fuck out of here!" Seto Kaiba screamed, and slammed the door an inch away from Yami's nose. Tears rushed to fill his eyes as he stood there, shocked, listening to racking sobs burst out within the house and fade away.

"...I just want to help..."

A solitary tear ran down his paled cheek. Trying to remain calm despite how frantic he was, Yami teleported himself back to the Game Shop. He slumped on his bed, eyeing the trench coat like the whole situation was its fault.

"Oh, Yami? I didn't hear you come back... what's up?"

Yugi came and sat beside him, but by then the tears had dried. Calmly Yami answered, "Kaiba's breaking down."

"You tried to talk to him, didn't you?"

Yami nodded, a familiar lump once again taking up residence in his throat.

"C'mere," Yugi said, holding out his arms, and Yami fell into them gratefully. "Sometimes you just gotta let people be assholes, ya know? He's been through a lot, and it's been about a year since Mokuba went into that coma..."

Yami looked at his light incredulously. "You knew?"

Yugi looked at him sadly. "It was all over the news last night. You and Seto weren't anywhere near a TV, so you guys didn't see it. But they had doctors on there, and everything. Everybody knows now."

"So Seto..."

"Go try again, Yami."

"No." His coldness surprised him, but a part of Yami was still Pharaoh and they never lowered themselves to being peoples' scapegoats or peer counselors, even if they do happen to love the person... "No, he'll just slam the door in my face again, maybe even turn violent... he'll just have to work this out for himself."

Yami stood, and walked toward the door, leaving Yugi to stare and wonder what the hell had gotten into his dark half. Then he got angry.

"You mean to tell me that you're just going to leave Seto Kaiba, who is supposedly your fucking koi, alone in that huge-ass house with his depression! YOU'RE JUST ASKING HIM TO KILL HIMSELF, SHITHEAD!"

Yami whirled on his hikari, otherworldly flames dancing around his tense form. Surprisingly though, he did not scream at Yugi. His voice was deadly and as cold as his eyes.

"Then what would you have me do? Let him slash my wrists instead? I have reached the point, my dear sweet light, where I no longer give a shit. About anything. So let me go."

"Right." Yugi's eyes were steel, but his chin wobbled a bit. "Right. Go drown yourself in selfish misery, you pompous asswipe. YOU'RE NOT PHARAOH ANYMORE, YA GOT THAT?"

Yami left and walked down the stairs, Yugi's hysterical screams following him down and out the door.

"YOU THINK IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU. I'M SICK OF BEING THE STRONG ONE FOR YOU, ASSHOLE! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE BROTHERS! _YOU'RE WORSE THAN SETO KAIBA_!"

That last part pissed him off, but a part of Yami still treasured Yugi, and so he restrained the part that wanted to rip him to shreds.

However, the rest of humanity was fair game.

Not only was Yami just a materialized memory and thus not subject to mortal law, but his heart had just been broken.

* * *

Holy and oh shit... review please. 


	10. Ch 10

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 10**

He was running, running so fast that both his legs and the screaming people he pushed past were a blur. He felt blood on his face, reveled in it.

His instinct told him to get out of town, avoid the people. They were so loud... but all he knew was running, and he no longer cared where he went.

He had been shoved into a store window and he wasn't sure how badly he was bleeding; he was healing himself as he went but that was slow going. His energy was for running.

He was in remarkably good shape for being cooped in a puzzle for 5,000 years... of course, the genes in this body were spliced magically from Yugi's own and Yugi was a healthy one.

_Yugi..._

Signs flashing past in his narrowed vision. A mother scooping her children out of the bloody madman's way. Slow to a jog through traffic... extraburstofspeed into the park... free. He kept running.

_Who was Yugi?_

Blood still flowed... it was worse than he had thought. He was slowing down.

Yami was gasping for breath as he neared the fountain, thinking only to wash his face in it, but gravity and vertigo took control of him in his bloodloss-weakened state and pushed him face first into the water instead.

Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. He was only sane enough to know he'd gone somewhat mad, but he was mad enough to think himself completely sane... running from his problems had never been his strong suit, because when you're Pharaoh and you don't deal, then someone will come along, take advantage of those problems, and kill you.

But besides, the water felt nice...

"Oh, no you don't!" A strong pair of hands, attached to pale muscular arms, clamped on to his torn jacket and hauled him out of the water.

Yami tried to breathe, but his lungs were rebelling. Okay, then. Eyes close, body go limp... we'll try that.

"Don't make me give you mouth to mouth, Pharaoh."

That voice... make it go away... it's too loud... too raspy...

Sigh. "All right then, you give me no choice..." Then Yami could hear muttered under the man's breath: "Ya pompous fiend."

Then suddenly there were lips on his, pushing air into those unresponsive lungs, and his eyes flew open to meet the stern, stubborn mahogany ones of Bakura.

All the water came out.

"Pah... Bakura!"

"You were dying!"

"And you cared?"

"You're doing me a favor!"

"Ah, so that's it." Yami tried in vain to stand, wondering how in the underworld he'd gotten to Heritage Park. "In that case, you should have let me drown."

"Not a good enough reason, Pharaoh?"

"No! As a matter of fact, a very selfish one."

"You have the nerve to call me selfish after trying to drown yourself in a fountain? How the hell did you become Pharaoh!"

Yami sniffed outwards and water sprayed. Then, hands in pockets, his proud shoulders slumped. "Thank you..."

Bakura did a double take. Did he seriously just thank me?

But Yami was walking away.

Shaking his head fiercely, his white mane of hair flopping around almost comically, he pleaded silently, -_no, not falling for some stuck up dead guy, please dear RA don't let me fall for this asshole...-_

"Fuck!"

Yami turned around only to catch a glimpse of the Tomb Robber as he winked out. Then he was gone, dematerialized and 'ported back to the house he and Ryou shared.

If he'd had the energy, Yami might have entertained the idea of following him, just to see what happened. He's an odd one, but despite our differences, we have crucial things in common... ah, what the hell am I babbling about, I gotta go find Yugi- _YUGI!_ Everything that had happened that morning came rushing back at him. _SHIT!_

He tried to teleport himself to the Game Shop but in his fatigue ended up at Kaiba's instead, and he had no energy left to correct his mistake. He sank into a sodden heap on the doorstep just as Seto himself was opening the door.

"What the fu- Yami?"

A groan. Then silence.

"Yugi called awhile ago, hoping you had come here."

_-Is he even breathing?-_

Rolling up his sleeves, Kaiba turned Yami over only to curse and pick him up at the sight of his blue-tinged lips. "Shit, shit, shit..." he muttered. _-Guest room? Nah...-_

Ten minutes later Yami was ensconced in blankets, minus his wet clothes and with a hot water bottle at his feet. His wounds had been dressed and he was sound asleep, but Kaiba was still in his very cold shower.

He knew taking Yami's clothes off had been a bad idea, but they were soaking wet and torn. He would have had to get them off sooner or later, and it would have been very embarrassing to have to fetch a female member of the staff. Or a male one who didn't care.

_-Nice cold shower, freezing cold shower, lalalala...-_

When he stepped out of the bathroom, a white towel slung about his hips, he noticed two things: one, it looked like Yami's fever had broken and two, said Pharaoh was staring at him with a very unreadable expression. Seto offered him a wan smile.

"Where are my clothes?"

"In the trash," Seto offered, turning his back to pull on some pants. "They were ripped to hell and bloody, so there was no salvaging them. I put them out of their misery." He realized too late that he was still giving Yami a split second view of his ass, but on second thought... there was a kiss last night, and it meant something. So I don't really care what he sees anymore...

Still shirtless, wearing only his (still slightly tight) black house pants, Seto came to sit on the bed, tucking Yami's sweat soaked bangs back and earning a grousing smile.

"I don't know how you ended up on my front steps, but I'm kinda glad you did."

"Oh?" A slender, dark brow arched. "And why is that?"

"Because you would have died if you had wound up somewhere else... you were suffering from a mild case of hypothermia and blood loss never helps anything."

_-And I got to take care of you...-_

_-And I got to see you...-_ A less proper part of his mind added. Seto inwardly facepalmed.

"And," he continued, smiling down at the beautiful young man lying in his bed, "because I get to do this."

The kiss was fiery, so unlike last night's sweet joining that Seto wondered which was the real Yami... and then the Pharaoh's tongue slid over his lips and coherant thought simply melted away.

Seto sternly reminded himself that Yami had just been through a harrowing ordeal... while clambering atop the warm body in the blankets and attacking Yami's mouth. The crimson eyes had fluttered closed and mumbled moans rumbled in Yami's throat as the kiss deepened still further, stretching the lifeline between them taut and drowning them in warmth.

They had to breathe, of course, but after a few gasps they went at it again, this time with Yami pushing the blankets out of the way, thus placing his burning hot chest against Seto's.

And that was what shattered the dream.

_-Oh god, he's burning up!_- Seto pushed himself up off the bed and looked at Yami lying there. With the absence of someone to kiss, the pain had returned, his head was pounding, and so he curled into a little ball and sent his mind elsewhere, turning inward to heal himself.

Of course, not knowing Yami had this ability, Seto thought he had passed out. Blankets were gently re-arranged, and a cool cloth was placed on Yami's searing hot forehead. Hands shaking, Seto managed to stick the electronic thermometer in Yami's ear...

110!

_-Holy fuck!-_ Seto cupped Yami's cheek in his hand, his eyes never leaving the young man as his other hand fumbled for the phone on the side table. But he touched the Millennium Puzzle laying there instead...

_Huh? GAHH!_

He was pulled into some sort of hallway. There was blackness before him, and blackness behind, but on either side were two doors. One was brightly painted and sounds of laughter and music came from within. But the other door...

"Seto?"

The bright door opened, and little Yugi Motou poked his head out. "How did you get in here?"

Seto Kaiba could only stare in shock. Yugi smiled. "It's okay, I'm sure there's very plausible explanation for this." Then his cherubic features steeled and he marched across the corridor. "Yami? Open this door this instant!"

An incoherant mumbling sounded on the other side.

"What do you mean, healing?"

More mumbling. Seto was astonished that Yugi could actually understand.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll send Seto back then."

CRASH! Tink, tink... crash, boom... loud echo of boom... stumble, stumble...

"Seto!" Yami's flushed face appeared in the door way. "What in Ra do you mean, Set... oh."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to ask how, aibou," he said to Yugi, who said, "Well, maybe it's the connection you two have." He said this with a grin Kaiba didn't particularly like.

"But I haven't the energy to send him back," Yami finished. Yugi nodded.

"Should he remember?"

Yami thought for a moment, then a look of sad resignation came upon his features. Seto only had time to fully register that Yami was wearing an Egyptian tunic and that the room behind him was not a room, but a world filled with sand, before Yami softly answered "No," and shut the door.

"Okay then," Yugi said to himself. "See ya later, Seto... at least, now I know where Yami is."

Seto started to think, but he's right across the hallway from you all the time, of course you know... and then the world became spirals of darkness.

He woke in the darkening room stretched across his empty bed. His closet was open and he could see the empty hangers. As he rolled over, wondering where the day had gone, he felt a note crumple beneath him. Pulling it out, he read:

_I feel better now, so went home... Thank you._

Then Seto remembered what had happened in the bed what felt like only moments ago_. -I fell asleep? Hn...-_

His head still fuzzy and strangely resonant, Seto pulled himself out of bed and stormed into the kitchen to make some coffee.

* * *

R&R, please. 


	11. Ch 11

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 11**

Sunday dawned clear and surprisingly brisk. After having fallen asleep a mere hour after waking to find Yami gone, Seto enjoyed a sound night's sleep and awoke refreshed... then he decided to do something he hadn't done since his parents were alive.

Seto Kaiba was going to church.

In his early years he had been raised Methodist, after all, and now that his life was more twisted than ever, he figured it couldn't hurt to try one more new thing.

He donned his black slacks and sapphire button-down shirt, for the first time leaving the trench coat behind. Feeling naked without it, he drove at a leisurely pace, this time in a sleek black Maserati and enjoying the fresh breeze through the open windows. He passed up a Baptist gathering, a Muslim temple and a Jewish synagogue before finding a Methodist church... he wasn't particularly biased about religion, but his knowlege was rather limited and he decided to stick to what he did know.

No one recognized him; he was greeted warmly by a stout old lady who handed him a bulletin and told him the good seats were in the third row. He managed a real smile and thanked her, smiling wider when he heard her remark, "What a handsome young man! Polite, too. Do you know who he is? No? Hm, pity."

The service was contemporary and filled with singing, something Seto normally abhorred, but the atmosphere was so charged with energy that he couldn't help singing along in a warm baritone. The pastor only spoke for a half-hour, of which Seto was appreciative, and then after three more songs the service was over.

Not sure of why he'd come, Seto moved towards the door. The pastor was shaking everyone's hand and when Seto came up to him, the pastor grasped the young man's hand and shook it with a grin. "Never thought I'd see you in our humble church," he remarked. "Always figured you for a big-city type Presbyterian shindig with one of those singing Christmas trees."

Seto had no idea how one could coax a Christmas tree into singing, but he responded politely. "I was raised Methodist, sir."

"Why did you decide to come to church today, son?"

Taken aback, Seto answered, "I don't know, sir... if you know who I am, then you must know what's going on in my life."

The pastor smiled. "Can't say that I do."

"Do you own a television?" Seto muttered sardonically.

"Yes, I do, but I don't watch it all the time. All I know about you, Seto Kaiba, is that you are a multi-billionaire at age seventeen who's seemed to have hit a rocky place."

"Well, sir, there was a 20/20 special on a few nights ago. I didn't see it myself, just heard about it, but if you saw that then you'd know that my little brother has been in the hospital for the past year with a brain tumor they're afraid to operate on." There. He'd said it. Now he waited for the 'it's all God's will' speech.

To his surprise, the pastor nodded. "I did hear about it from a friend, but I didn't watch it myself. If it's a certain type of tumor then I don't blame them."

The man's easygoing Southern accent was relaxing; Seto found himself more at ease. He stuck both hands in his pockets. The pastor continued.

"Have they proposed any sort of treatment?"

"Well," Seto admitted, "they have, but the risks involved are so great..."

"Don't you think being a human vegetable is worse than death?"

"Perhaps, but the alternative is paralysis of all sorts of random bodily functions and places, permanent damage to the frontal lobe or brain stem, depending on where they went in, things like that."

The pastor looked grim. "And the alternative to surgery?"

"Either he stays in a coma, or I pull the plug." Unconsciously he shuddered. "The doctors are all adamant on one thing: he will not wake."

Putting a hand on Seto's shoulder, the pastor looked deeply into his eyes. "The best thing you can do is start letting go, because no matter what happens, a part of him won't be there anymore."

"I thought this was a place where people believe in miracles?" Seto said dryly.

"Maybe," the pastor said, "but medical miracles are so uncommon that even with daily prayer it's best not to depend on them." His hand fell to his side. "I'll pray for the little one, Mister Kaiba. You should, too. Sometimes, great things happen to those who believe."

"I never was much of a religion person," Seto said, as he turned to leave.

"You don't have to be. Religion isn't important. Faith is important. Have faith, and something wonderful will come of it."

"No 'maybe' this time?"

The pastor offered him a small smile. "I have great faith."

* * *

After he left the unsettling, heavy atmosphere of the Methodist church, Seto Kaiba went to visit his little brother.

Or, rather, the empty shell that once housed his little brother. Looking down at the lifeless form, eyes slightly open and hoses running everywhere, it was hard to remember what life had been like before he collapsed. Before the tumor.

"Mokuba," Seto began. He always talked like this, as though the boy could hear him. And maybe he can, Seto thought, he just can't move or speak to tell me he's still in there...

"Mokuba, today I went to church. I know that after Gozaburo died (he never spoke of it as a suicide, even though it really was and even though most people thought he'd killed their stepfather) I swore I'd never set foot in one of those again, but now I see that they're just warm, happy places full of people who don't care about your reputation. They want to help you. Mokuba, the pastor's praying."

Feeling like a fool for talking like a third grader, Seto continued. "The doctors might have found a way to perform the operation with minimum risk. I still don't like that there's any risk at all, but in medicine nothing's completely certain. There can be unforeseen complications."

The doctor came in then and said he had to rotate the boy's body, for if he lay too long in one position he would develop bedsores, as well as loss of circulation. Seto nodded, and squeezed the cold little hand. Mokuba's chest rose and fell mechanically, and Seto almost cried.

Almost.

"We'll bring you back," he said, softly so the doctor couldn't hear. "I love you, brother. Come back to me."

And he was gone, out the door and down the stairs before the doctor turned around.

* * *

Yugi stood on the threshold of Yami's bedroom door and smiled at the sight of his darker half sprawled across the bed, still wearing Seto's clothes and still sound asleep after one in the afternoon.

All things considered, the petite boy thought to himself, he has every right to be sleeping... he put himself through a lot yesterday and it took most of his energy to heal. However, you can't sleep your life away...

Stepping quietly into the room, Yugi opened the curtains and blinds, letting bountiful rays of sunlight splash across the room. One hit Yami squarely in the face and he whined through his nose, scrunching up his face and rolling away from the light. Yugi laughed. "Aww... c'mon, you need to get up. If you sleep anymore you won't be able to fall asleep tonight."

"On the contrary, little hikari," Yami grumbled, "After yesterday I will be able to sleep through anything."

"Even Linkin Park?" Yugi teased, switching the stereo on and blaring it.

Yami excised a little bit of shadow energy and turned the annoying thing off. He was all for Linkin Park when his head wasn't full of sand, but right now... he also created a mini-barrier around the power button.

"No fair," Yugi said as he razzed his dark. Yami returned the stuck out tongue and got pounced on for it.

"Fine, I'll get up... but you have to help me if I work in the shop today."

"No problem. Grandpa's still on that card seller's tour and it's unlikely he'll return before the first of July."

Yami nodded, and swung his legs over the side of the bed with a yawn. Divesting himself of Seto's clothes, he 'ported them into the washing machine before disappearing into the shower.

Yugi bounded downstairs and opened the shop. _Yami?_

_Yes, aibou?_

_How's Seto?_

Long pause. _He was asleep when I left him yesterday. If he has no recollection of our soul rooms, then he should be fine._

Yugi paused in his dusting of the shelves. _How exactly did he get in there?_

_Aibou, I doubt either of us will ever know._

Nodding to himself, Yugi left it at that.

Later, as dusk fell and night approached, Bakura stared up at Yami's still-lit window from his lonely stance on the sidewalk below. He sighed, knowing full well that what he was about to do could mean his death at Yami's hand, then 'ported up and inside.

He materialized beside the bed and did a double take at the sight of Yami huddled there, sound asleep, clutching a wrinkled trenchcoat and smiling as he dreamt. Despite Yugi's earlier admonitions, he'd had no problem falling asleep as soon as it got dark. His bedside light was still on, a testimony as to how tired he'd been.

_-That's Kaiba's trenchcoat...- _Bakura realized with a jolt of... what? Jealousy_? -Have they already been... together?-_ No, doubtless Yami would be in Seto's bed tonight had any sort of joining taken place.

He knelt beside the bed, his mahogany gaze never leaving the doll-form of the one man who could both piss him off and haunt his dreams. The Pharaoh he'd hated for more than five millennia. He looked so peaceful in sleep, his crimson eyes closed and seeing worlds far beyond this mortal plane, so removed from the pressures of this life...

_-Do I love him... or is this just a sad attempt to fill a void within me?-_ Bakura thought with slight distaste. _-Love is a weakness... if anything I should be in love with my own beautiful hikari, not this asshole...-_

"You think too loudly, Kura," Yami complained childishly. A crimson eye cracked open and a smirk appeared on his thin lips in response to Bakura's astonished expression. _-I _think_ too loudly?-_

"Your strong emotions let me hear you, Bakura, and this is what I have to say: love is not a weakness, but a strength. However, if you choose not to believe that, then I cannot convince you otherwise. So far as you loving me is concerned, that's something you'll have to figure out on your own."

His smirk had faded, and sadness tinged his eyes. "I cannot help you."

Bakura scowled and turned on his heels, squatting with his back to Yami. His heart gave an unnatural jolt. "Not asking for your help, Pharaoh."

"Oh?" Yami asked softly, sliding off the bed and coming up behind the Tomb Robber, placing his strong hands on Bakura's suddenly trembling shoulders. He could faintly hear Bakura's mental cursing at his own weakness, like a television set with the volume turned way down. "If you don't want my help, then why are you here?"

"Because... because I just wanted to see you." Kura's back was still to him, and Yami wished he could see the young man's eyes.

"But why me, Bakura?" Yami pressed gently. Enraged by Yami's naivete, Bakura wrenched himself around, out of the Pharaoh's grasp, and bared his teeth. They were filed to points, a memoir of the old days, and glistening white. His eyes had deepened to a bloody, murderous glare and his voice, when he finally spoke, was still raspy but so deep that it seemed to be bubbling up from hell itself.

"Somehow, for whatever reason, I've fallen for you. You are a pompous prick and I'm proud of every single time I've pissed you off, both in this life and that prior. But you've captured me, and I will not stand for it. Maybe I came to see you. Maybe I came to rape you." Yami recoiled. "Maybe I came to kill you. I don't even know.

"You asked me why. I don't know that either. But I do know that unless I do something about it, I won't be able to stand it much longer."

"And what is that something?" Yami asked with some trepidation.

"This!" Bakura snarled, propelling himself forward and knocking Yami spread-eagle to the floor, landing atop him. Moments later he crushed Yami's lips to his, pinning the Pharaoh's wrists down and grinding their hips together in desperation. Yami's shocked grunt changing to a fearful moan should have warned him, but he was too crazed with emotioal anguish and confusion to remember that when cornered, Yami often lost control. Then a surge of power knocked him up and back against the opposite wall.

Yami towered above him, otherworldly energy crackling so fiercely around him that the lights in the room flickered madly. Hsi eyes were filled with white light and lined with kohl, and the Millennium symbol appeared on his forehead. The Puzzle was rocketing around on its chain around his neck like there was a bottle rocket attached to its base.

"You may not know what to do with yourself," Yami thundered, his tone layered with reverb and reminiscent of dark canyons, his powers causing a wind to pick up within the room, "but you may not debauch me in order to find out."

Tears streamed from Bakura's eyes; not of fear or pain, but of fury. The Pharaoh was so terrible, so beautiful, so damned enfuriating...

"Find someone else to love, Tomb Robber," Yami screamed, the wind rising to a fevered pitch, snapping through his clothes and breaking the windows with a shrieking crash, "I WILL NEVER BELONG TO YOU!"

Bakura stood and faced the fiery, dark-shrouded Pharaoh. A solitary tear of anger, frustration and regret slid down his cheek as he flicked the Pharaoh off, then disappeared. Instantly the wind died down and Yami sank to his knees on the glass-strewn carpet. "I am so sorry, Bakura," he whispered, stroking the glittering surface with shaking fingertips. "I did not want to do that, to lose control... but we could never be together. I suppose... I thought you could figure that out without any help from me."

Behind him, Yugi- having seen and heard the whole thing- stood helplessly in the doorway. The door hung crazily on one hinge, but Yugi grasped it like a lifeline. He'd never seen such power...

God knew where Bakura was headed. That thought snapped Yugi out of his stupor and propelled him down the stairs. Yami would be fine. Yugi grabbed his coat, jingled his keys, and slammed the door. Moments later he was behind the wheel of a beat-up old white Toyota pickup, on his way to Ryou's house. He was driving as fast as he could.

* * *

R&R, please. 


	12. Ch 12

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch 12**

The highway seemed to stretch on for eternities each mile Yugi sped. He knew it was only fifteen minutes to the house the ring bearers shared, but in those fifteen minutes, Bakura could be doing anything to Ryou with no one to stop him.

Yugi made the fifteen-minute drive in five.

He parked the Toyota at a crazy angle against Bakura's mailbox and dashed to the door. It was shut, and locked. The house was silent... as a tomb... save for a single flickering light. Someone was watching TV.

Yugi crept around to the back of the house. The pool gate was always unlocked; Ryou had invited the neighborhood kids to swim in it whenever they liked. Shadow powers made great cleaning supplies. Yugi slid up to the sliding glass door and glanced inside.

Bakura was the one watching television. Ryou was slumped on the carpet beside him, in a pool of his own blood.

The shock of seeing his best friend dead hit Yugi like a sledgehammer. Strangling the scream he wanted to let out, he ducked back behind some bushes as Bakura came out for a smoke. Slowly, the dark spirit lit up, and savored every drag. Then he tossed the butt not far from the bushes where Yugi crouched.

Yugi lost all sense of time from that moment on. It seemed like hours passed, and he thought he heard Bakura go back inside.

He was not at all prepared for the Shadow powers that grabbed him, flipped him upside down and brutally raped his mind.

He would have screamed, this time, had he will left to find his voice.

* * *

Yami jumped up from his kneeling position, not even feeling the window glass slice the tender skin of his feet. "YUGI!" he shouted, and the winds answered. Roaring gales of earthly and otherworldly energy shook the foundation of the game shop, gave him the strength he needed to 'port his aching body straight down on top of Bakura. 

Who gave him a look of incredible surprise.

"What did you do to my light!" Yami thundered.

"Nothing..." Bakura stood slowly, muted the TV, and was staring at Yami with an unreadable expression.

"Something's happened to him!"

"What the fuck makes you think I did it!"

"Because he's HERE!"

Bakura looked around. "Where?"

Yami took several deep breaths. "Bakura, are you lying to me?"

"No." At Yami's dubious, frightening expression, he snapped, "I may have in the past, but I'm not so stupid as to piss you off even further right now. Especially not if Yugi is in real danger." _Ryou loves him, you know. I wouldn't do that to my own light._

"So then where is he?" Yami called from another room of the house, stalking around trying to find any trace of Yugi's mental signature.

"You're sure whatever you felt came from here?"

"I felt it too," Ryou murmured, darting in with a rag and some carpet cleaner to mop up the juice he'd spilled. "Yugi was here, and then he was here still but mostly not."

He looked up from his task and smiled wanly at the darks' confused expressions. "His physical body is still around here somewhere, but his mind isn't."

_He's taking this rather calmly..._ Yami shot a confused thought at Bakura. The silver-haired spirit grimaced. _Inside he's screaming. _

Aloud, Yami said, "A darker presence?" He glanced at Bakura. "Marik?"

"Um, no." Marik slid out of the master bedroom to join them. Bakura blushed. Yami's eyebrow barely twitched.

"We must find him."

* * *

They did. He was spread-eagle in the bushes, eyes wide open and staring at nothing. His breathing was shallow, and his heartbeat erratic. Yami was furious. 

"WHO WOULD DARE DO SUCH A THING!"

"Pharaoh, I've got a theory, but you probably won't like it."

Yami turned to Marik, his eyes flooding with emotions. He looked like someone anxiously begging their eyes not to cry. Marik sighed. "Bakura told me about your little... outburst. Yugi is sensitive to all this power stuff; it's how he was drawn to your puzzle in the first place. However, this is the first time you've used this extent of your powers in this plane... it may have adversely affected him."

"Why would it take this long?" Bakura asked. "It must have been a half-hour afterwards."

"Yugi's a strong kid. His mind may have been inwardly battling the affects, a sort of spiritual immune system, if you will. However, no one but us is strong enough to withstand that shit." Marik sighed. "In the simplest of human terms, we're undead and he's not. We can take the power flow, channel it, do all sorts of things with it – all he can do is be overwhelmed by the wave."

Ryou padded up to the group with a blanket. "I've called an ambulance. They're going to take him to Domino Central." He arranged the blanket around his friend, and then refused to leave Yugi's side.

All four of them ended up accompanying Yugi, who was put into room 420.

As they were going into the room, Yami glimpsed someone coming out of the adjoining one. He recognized the person, and for some reason he wasn't surprised.

"Hello, Seto."

* * *

Well, hello there. It's been about a year, hasn't it? There have been slight changes made to the previous chapters but no total rewrites; it's fine how it is. Yes, I do have a plan for the end of the story. It might be awhile, but it will come. 

I really hope you like this chapter. After some editing, I rather like it myself. Read and review, please! Gotta love reviews. Oh, and if any of this inspires icons, please credit me. And show me! I'm an icon artist myself and love to see others' work.


	13. Ch 13

**Orion**  
_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 13**

Another year, another chapter... eventually it'll be finished. I still don't own the little punks.

* * *

"Hello, Seto."

Kaiba jerked in surprise. _Sand, a harsh wind blowing... crimson eyes gazing from within a world of sand and a crown of gold... _Like a slight mental tug, half of a memory surfaced only to swirl back beneath the waves of his mind. The eyes that met Yami's were red-rimmed and glaring. The glare faded a bit as Kaiba came back to himself and realized who was standing there, but then he turned away in embarassment. _I can't let him see me like this..._ he thought, at the same time feeling utterly foolish for trying to hide. What was that, though? he thought like a whisper, but the mental tug had vanished.

Yami took a tentative step towards him. "You were visiting Mokuba?" he asked soflty. Kaiba nodded. "It's a miracle they've managed to keep the paparazzi out of here - wait, why are you here?"

"Yugi... something's happened to Yugi. He's in that room, there," Yami said, and pointed. His eyes were downcast to keep emotions at bay; an unnecessary precaution, for in the next moment Seto had his arms around him, and the floodgates opened.

Even in his frenzy, his fear, Yami was careful not to let slip anything regarding soul rooms, or Shadow powers. All the same, he felt a certain confused understanding beneath Kaiba's soothing murmurs. -_Can it be... does he remember?-_

In time, the tears slowed and ceased. Yami straightened, still loosely in Kaiba's embrace, and looked up into those familiar sapphire eyes. A fresh tear lingered on one pale cheek, and Yami was reminded of that fateful day in the classroom. Smiling wanly, he drew a trembling finger through the tear.

"It'll be all right, Seto..." he murmured.

Kaiba drew a deep breath, and took his embrace away. Slightly shocked, Yami shivered. "What?"

"It won't be all right," Seto said feverishly, his voice cracking. "It can't be all right."

"Why not?"

More tears fell; alone in the hallway with the one he might come to truly love, Kaiba was not afraid of appearances. "Tomorrow morning, they're taking Mokuba into surgery. Even though the doctors are calling it a 'slight risk', considering the inflammation and the area of infection the chance of survival is only 40." There, he had said it. Kaiba lifted his eyes not to Yami's stare, but to the flourescent lights overhead. Therefore, he didn't see Yami launch himself at him until the former Pharaoh had propelled him into the opposite wall. Kaiba couldn't catch his breath, the embrace was so tight, but as stars danced before his vision he rejoiced in the feeling.

_-Love?-_

"Pharaoh..." A raspy voice cut through the moment, and Bakura could have kicked himself if not for the fact that he was breaking the mood by will of the doctors, not himself. And Yami understood, leaving Seto against the wall and trailing a hand lightly across his cheek.

"They need some information... and they also want to know if you've discussed any options with Yugi's grandfather," Bakura parroted. Worry leeched into his voice; worry for his hikari, who hadn't left Yugi's side nor blinked since they arrived, his breathing shallow, and for Yami, whose face drained of color when he realized that 'options' meant 'if Yugi died'. All the strenuous activity of this evening had faded to a troublesome memory, but Bakura knew with unfading certainty that Yami blamed himself.

_-I suppose in a way, it _is _his fault... but even with my lovely little intervention, nobody could have seen this kind of backlash effect coming,-_ Bakura thought to himself.

The mood during ride back from the hospital was a black one. Seto had actually come in to see Yugi, and to hear the diagnosis as of yet; he had been as much angered as Yami was resigned when the doctors basically said they had no diagnosis to offer. Of course, everyone in the room but Seto knew the real reason for Yugi's catatonic state. After he'd trembled in fury for a few moments, the doctors wilting under his regard, Seto had taken his leave - after first telling Yami he was welcome at the mansion any time. Yami hadn't been able to answer, the only thought in his head being how when they were rivals in Duel Monsters, oh how he'd longed to hear those words!

After Yami then signed the necessary papers, they'd all piled into Yugi's truck and taken it back to Bakura's place. Sans Ryou, of course - the spectre of a boy could not be budged from Yugi's side. Yami figured that it Yugi woke, Ryou's healing presence would be to both their benefits.

Bakura unlocked the door without a word, and disappeared into the bathroom. Marik offered Yami a stiff drink, and the Pharaoh accepted, taking the amber-colored stuff gratefully and downing it so swiftly that Marik made a strangled noise of protest. Bakura, emerging from the bathroom with his hair sopping wet, heard the noise and sniggered. "What the hell was that, tawny?"

"Don't fucking call me that, and he just downed a fifth of this in one fucking gulp!" Marik yelled, brandishing the bottle. Bakura grabbed it, and his eyes widened. "You poured him a fifth?"

"I expected him to nurse it - shit, where's he gone?" Marik and Bakura glanced around frantically, but Yami had stepped into the kitchen. They found him raiding the fridge with a morose delight. Although his breath smelled like he should be piss-drunk, he was by all appearances perfectly sober. "How the fuck do you do that?" Marik asked, disbelieving. "Mah'ick," Yami replied through a mouthful of cold pizza. "Kura, this shit is disgusting."

"So is this," Bakura answered, offering him another fifth. Yami shrugged, downed it just as quickly as the first, and carried on with his pizza. He was so intent on the food that he didn't see Marik and Bakura exchange astonished, devious looks.

It took four whole bottles before he was tipsy, and Bakura had to head to the liquor store before it closed, bringing back the eight more that got him absolutely sloshed. The other two were trashed long before Yami, but they kept going. They all just kept going. Marik drank for the hell of drinking, Bakura drank out of desperation, depression and because he liked the taste, and Yami... Yami drank to forget the sight of Yugi sprawled nearly dead in the bushes, and the sight of Yugi lying in a hospital bed. He knew in the instant between sober and trashed exactly how Kaiba felt.

Then rational thought was gone.

The sun, arrogant flaming thing that it was, stabbed at Yami's closed eyes through a chink in the blinds, and he groaned, rolling over. The movement was a mistake. Everything he'd drank the night before came up, and it was pure luck that he was on the side of the bed and not in the middle.

A white hand appeared from somewhere in the blankets and waved; the vomit disappeared. "Goddamnit," said a familiar raspy voice, "the smell always lingers."

Grasping his splitting head, Yami cracked open an eye. "Bakura?"

He got two answering groans in reply, and rolling his eye around he realized they were in Bakura's bed. _-WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED LAST NIGHT???_

_...and why does my ass... oh FUCK no.-_

* * *

You want another chapter, don't you? Of course, Bakura and Marik are experienced drinkers, so they remember everything. Yami, however, is just somehow magically or genetically immune to liquor. It can't be Yugi's genes... gotta be that magic they used to make the body for him (and that's another story entirely).

You just know you want Bakura and Marik to tell Yami every lurid detail, perverted little fucks. XD


	14. Ch 14

**Orion**

_by_ The Pop Tart Spirits

**Ch. 14**

Don't you just hate it when you're writing a story in pieces and you forget which day you're on? I had to go back several times just to make sure that okay, it's Monday - they should go to school. XD Poor Yami might have trouble sitting in a hard desk all day, but school might be interesting. So they'll go.

* * *

"Mornin', Pharaoh." The voice was sardonic, but Yami caught a bit of hesitation. Small wonder, that - it was only yesterday that Yami had broken windows with his mind at the thought of being dominated by Bakura. Remembering that brought Yugi to mind, and Yami sank back into the pillows with a whimper. He still couldn't feel Yugi on the other end, which meant that wherever his mind was... it was very far away. 

Histories of ancient Egypt never depticted Pharaohs as being fearful of anything, but that was just because they were very, very good at hiding it. No one can be in control of an entire nation and not fear at all, even if it's simply for their own life. Yami, however, was in the 21st century now and under no such stipulations. He was downright scared, and didn't care who knew. The hangover was gone, but he still felt sick. "Yugi..."

He felt Bakura move closer beneath the blankets. "Ryou says he's breathing on his own now, and seems to have more color. It's probably only a matter of time, he says, before Yugi just wakes up."

Marik 'mmph'ed in dissatisfaction, most likely at his headache, and rolled the opposite direction. Yami opened his eyes again and rolled to face Bakura, who blended in quite nicely with the shadows under the sheets. A strong, pale hand took his hesitantly, and Yami gaped.

_Shut up_, Bakura thought, _I'm just trying to help._

_You realize that this is very out of character for you?_

_I know_, he sighed silently, _but I'm... well. Still coming to grips with all of this, Pharaoh. Kindly don't push me. _

Yami nodded and snuggled deeper into the pillows. _What time is it?_

_It's around six-thirty. I was considering not even bothering with school, but Ryou would flay me if I missed another day. He's terrified I'll flunk out._

_Six thirty... ungodly hour._ Yami rubbed at his face, but stopped in mid-rub. _He flays you?_

A floating smirk. _Very well. He learned from the best. _Laughter. _You look like you're melting._

_There was that one time you thought it'd be hilarious to shove me under the cascade of boiling oil._

_Never mind that anyone under the auspices of the Puzzle cannot die? It was amusing._

_Just about anything in the right context amuses you._

Marik rolled back over and said aloud, "If you two are done with your pillow talk, get up and make some coffee."

Yami groaned. "I was pressganged into this relationship."

"Which means you're voluteering? Beautiful," Marik grumbled into his pillow.

It ended up being Bakura who got up first, rolling over Yami in the process and tumbling them both and half the covers to the floor. He and Yami ended up beneath the shower of white blankets, Yami helpless on his back and Bakura, mortified, on top of him. Their lips were inches apart, and Yami could see the hunger taking over in the tomb robber's eyes. Yami couldn't imagine what had taken place last night, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Bakura remembered everything.

"COFFEE."

Bakura snapped out of it and stood without a word. "Yes, ma'am," he said to Marik, and neatly dodged the pillow thrown at his back as he left the room.

"He's very much so in love with you, you know," Marik groused as Yami tidied the bed. He'd managed to sit up, but his golden hair spiked out everywhere and his eyes were slits. He looked terrible. "You know," Yami ventured, "You'd be able to heal if you tried living in a seperate body."

"The kid's gone insane," Marik said matter-of-factly, "so I wouldn't be doing anyone any favors. Better that I'm the only one who has to listen to him. And don't change the subject."

Yami sighed. "I know he is; I can't do much about it if I don't love him in return."

"You ignored me the entire time last night," Marik said. "Even if your sober self thinks you love Kaiba and only Kaiba, your drunk self seems to think Bakura is a prize worth catching."

A flash of memory: white skin, limned with scratches; the feel of skin under his nails, desert-spice lips to devour, white hair falling over his shoulders as he was ravaged from behind...

Yami shuddered. Marik smirked.

"Your coffee awaits, madam," Bakura said from the doorway. Yami glanced over with a guilty look. "I guess I'll take a shower?"

Bakura shrugged. "Take your time; I've got two."

* * *

Before first period, Yami went to all of Yugi's teachers and explained where he was. Most of them were sympathetic; if they didn't know what to make of Yami, they sure loved Yugi. Then classes began. 

Halfway through first period, Yami remembered with a gasp that Mokuba was undergoing surgery at that very moment. Guilt welled up._ -I should be there for him-_, he thought, -_but what was I doing this morning? Lounging in bed with two people I barely know, don't love.-_

He gathered up his things, wrote a short note, and carried it up to the sensei. She read it, raised an eyebrow, and said, "No, Mr. Moto, I'll not allow it. Sit down."

"What?"

His voice was so quiet that for an instant, he wasn't even sure he'd spoken. But she heard him. "I said no, Mr. Moto. Don't make the mistake of arguing with me."

"I don't need to argue," he said, his voice deepening as tendrils of shadow power caressed his face. His eyes deepened and darkened, becoming hollow shapes of light lined with kohl. He seemed to become taller, but only as his presence heightened. Purple and black flames danced around him. The class sat silent in fright; the sensei had backed up against the chalkboard. A single tear rolled down her right cheek.

"I must leave," he said, whispering, every syllable laden with otherworldly power. "Surely you understand."

The sensei, thinking loudly of a sister she once lost, nodded. As soon as the door snicked shut behind him, she slid to the floor.

* * *

Yami 'ported to the hospital from the nearest bathroom, straight into the room where Kaiba was pacing anxiously. A magazine lay on the floor, torn asunder, and his briefcase was open with several movies playing on a laptop at once. Kaiba himself looked a wreck - his hair was mussed, his clothes were wrinkled, and stubble that Yami had never before seen graced his jaw. No one had ever seen Seto Kaiba this unhinged; Yami pitied the doctors should they fail. 

Somehow Kaiba heard him appear, and stopped moving altogether. Slowly, he turned, and the lost look in his eyes was enough to make Yami race to him. Just as they touched the brunette collapsed. The depletion of energy in his body was such that Yami could feel it, and he was sure that Kaiba had been pacing all night. There was something wrong, though; Kaiba's heart was racing wildly, and he hadn't even been pacing that quickly. Yami closed his eyes as he held him, sending power through his body to locate the problem. He found it, and nearly dropped Kaiba.

There was an imminent failure lurking within the young billionaire's heart.

Yami blinked, at first unable to understand, and looked again. Yes, there it was, and Yami could almost feel it grinning at him. In his arms, Kaiba slept, innocent to the timebomb contained within his chest.

* * *

The entire day passed before Mokuba came out of surgery. The doctor who came into the waiting room looked harried and drawn. Kaiba had been awake for the last three hours, and his eyes looked brighter. He rose at the sound of the door, but at the doctor's expression he sank to his knees. The poor man didn't have to say "I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba, we've done all we can" but it was his job, so he did. Kaiba let out a racking sob, and Yami hurried down to the floor beside him. The doctor backed out of the room. 

The moment the door closed, Kaiba screamed.

Yami tried to hold him, but he lurched out of the Pharaoh's grasp to stumble to his feet. "Mokuba..." he panted, trying to stand, but swaying in place. Yami stood to steady him, and felt that imminent failure again, much sooner this time. The stress was too much - Yami had to get him calmed down -

So he spun Kaiba around to face him, and as those blue eyes he loved so much rolled wildly, Yami drew him close and kissed him fiercely.

Kaiba hesitated, unsure, then began to return the kiss - then Yami felt the power behind the heart failure roar in triumph, and Kaiba stopped breathing.

Yami slammed on the call button with his power, his forehead, his hand, he wasn't sure which. "Somebody help!"

* * *

R&R. I know you hate me - it feels good. XD 


End file.
